[brandy]

Stem cell harvest without inital chemo

by brandy on Thu Feb 20, 2014 10:30 pm

How effective is stem cell harvest without initial chemo, but with melphalan, then stem cells put back into your body?

[kjpoppit]

Re: stem cell harvest without inital chemo

by kjpoppit on Thu Feb 20, 2014 10:54 pm

I don't know. It does confuse me. Did the doctor say why they don't want to pre treat with chemo?

[InQ]

Re: stem cell harvest without inital chemo

by InQ on Fri Feb 21, 2014 1:43 am

From my understanding, melphalan is considered "chemo"?

[NStewart]

Re: stem cell harvest without inital chemo

by NStewart on Fri Feb 21, 2014 5:29 pm

I haven't heard of not having some kind of pre-treatment for stem cell harvest with either a Cytoxan infusion followed with, or without, daily injections of Neupogen to promote stem cell production. Or, pre-treatment with Mozobil again to promote stem cell production. The Melphalan is part of the transplant procedure, It has nothing to do with stem cell harvesting. The Melphalan is the high dose chemo that wipes out your bone marrow completely and the infusion of stem cells is a rescue technique to replace lost cells in your bone marrow. The stem cells then begin to repopulate all of your blood cell types.

Have you asked your doctor why no pre-treatment for the stem cell harvest?

Nancy in Phila

[Wayne K]

Re: stem cell harvest without inital chemo

by Wayne K on Fri Feb 21, 2014 6:21 pm

I believe the treatment, I had Neupogen, is to insure that you have an abundance of stem cells to harvest. I was told that even with the Neupogen it could take as many as 5 sessions.
I did it in one, but others in my group had more sessions.

[darnold]

Re: stem cell harvest without inital chemo

by darnold on Fri Feb 21, 2014 6:59 pm

I haven't heard of any center offering a stem cell transplant with an initial round of chemo. Like kjpoppit, I'm wondering -- did your oncologist tell you this was an option? The protocol, as Nancy succinctly laid out, is chemo before (Cytoxan), Neupogen to re-grow your cells, stem cell harvest, Melphalan, stem cell infusion, recovery.

[LadyLib]

Re: stem cell harvest without inital chemo

by LadyLib on Fri Feb 21, 2014 7:07 pm

Induction therapy is usually required to get the cancer under control first. My husband only did the induction therapy. Prior to Melphalan - the same day and the day afterward, they gave my husband 20mg of dex. Other than that, there was no additional chemo.

[brandy]

Re: stem cell harvest without inital chemo

by brandy on Sun Feb 23, 2014 12:49 am

There was no Cytoxan due to my high heart rate, but stem cell harvest was done and frozen for later use. Concerned if this will work, or am I going to receive a stem cell problem?

[Dr. Edward Libby]

Re: Stem cell harvest without inital chemo

by Dr. Edward Libby on Sun Feb 23, 2014 8:41 pm

Hello Brandy,

Did you receive any chemotherapy treatment before you had the stem cells harvested? Like in the months before the collection?

Most patients get several cycles of "induction" chemotherapy after they are diagnosed and then have their stem cells collected using GCSF with or without cyclophosphamide.

[brandy]

Re: Stem cell harvest without inital chemo

by brandy on Sun Feb 23, 2014 9:27 pm

Yes, I had induction course of Revlimid, dex, and Velcade. M spike was 0.08 at stem cell harvest -- 2 days of harvest. Concerned that I didn't get Cyloxan. What is gcsf?